Yesterday, while reaching in to the launch ramp with one reef as a light (18mph +) Tornado Alley afternoon shower popped up, I heard a popping sound and the mast lurched. I immediately furled the sail and pedaled in. There was quite a bit of water in the boat, but I attributed that to the washing over of the forward hatch.

Detailed inspection today showed that the mast receiver was broken at the bottom and that the molded in nub where the mast receiver is screwed to the hull had sheared away.

I can probably find most of the parts to fix the receiver, but how do I repair the hull? I think that the sheared nub is still inside the hull, but the white plug is definitely gone.

This is a very early Adventure Island, having been purchased in April, 2007. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-bill

Update: 5/29/13 -- I dis-assembled the mast receiver today and discovered that the nub was indeed broken away from the hull. Not only that the threads of the brass nut were pointed toward the water and there was no hole in the bottom of the mast receiver. In other words, the mast receiver was not bolted to the hull except under the V-frame.

Last edited by bharper on Wed May 29, 2013 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'd be visiting my Hobie dealer as this is probably unfixable.Why it broke needs to be determined. Broken socket screws on TI's have been a problem in the past but not really with AI's. The white plug is only cosmetic and covers up the hole used to hold the brass fitting in the mold. It sounds like you have substantial hull damage and as it's in a high stress area a fix would likely be not recommended.

I'm not ready to write off the boat and should be able to at least make a pedaling boat with training wheels

As for visiting the dealer, the closest is about 100 miles away. My original dealer is 1500 miles away. I haven't started the teardown of the mast receiver, but I cannot believe that this problem cannot be corrected. Off this thread, I'll be researching positive flotation since I don't take this vessel off-shore. Short of a tornado, I should be able to survive any squall/storm on a sheltered lake with positive flotation and staying with the boat.

Can anyone share the kind of plastic in the AI hull -- polyethylene, etc? If the material is right and the hull geometry agrees, it may be possible to repair the damage and strengthen that area of the hull.

I echo NOHUHU's sentiments. Please do not hesitate to take your AI to a dealer. 100 miles is chickenfeed to the risk that your repair fails.

Hobie has a well-deserved reputation for looking after its customers, even way beyond the warranty period, and in this instance, you are likely to either get a professional quality repair, or a replacement hull. No doubt this will not be free of charge, but I have been very pleasantly surprised when I hear how modest costs for stuff like this can be. A bare replacement hull is not ridiculously expensive, as most of the cost is in the fittings, which you would transfer from your current AI.

Whatever you do, please don't even think for a moment of keeping your AI in crippled form as just a pedal boat with a big safety question mark hanging over its head!